Nothing is Final
by Ayaka620
Summary: Everything was set for Spencer's future, that is until she read the fine print and ended up with more than she bargained for. Spashley fic.
1. A literal death

**Nothing is Final**

A/N: This story is based off a challenge from Cyberauthor. The first chapter is some what short and doesn't reveal anything about the actual plot except for the setup, but after that things get better. I promise! Anyway enjoy the story and please give some feedback if you like it. Also, the story is in Spencer's POV. Cheers

Chapter 1: A literal deadline

_'Ugh..I need to finish this proposal. Dad is going to kill me if I screw this up_,' I thought as I glanced to my right and looked at the clock.

'_11: 48 pm...Still have_ 9_ hours and 12 minutes till the big show,' _I thought as I stretched my arms in front of me and sighed. _Still need to do the layouts and charts too_, I reminded myself and scrunched my forehead at the thought. "God this is impossible!" I said in frustration and leaned my head back against the chair. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I heard the phone ringing in the distance.

"Who's calling at this hour?" I grumbled as I stood up and walked to the kitchen.

"Hello?" I said as I answered the telephone.

"Spencer!"

"Mom? Is that you?" I asked the caller.

"Spencer! Yes, it's me," my mother replied in a hysteria.

"Mom, what is it?" I asked, getting nervous from her tone.

"You need to get down here,"

"Where?" I replied completely clueless.

"To the hospital! Your father just had a heart attack," She replied as I felt my heart stop at her words. "Spencer? Did you hear what I said? You need to get down here as soon as possible. OK?"

I remained silent unable to answer her as my throat suddenly closed up. "Spencer?" my mother repeated.

"Yea-yeah. I'll be there as soon as I can," I chocked out as I hung up the phone and ran out the door, grabbing my keys and coat on the way.

It took me fifteen minutes to reach the hospital, and as I entered the hospital I was greeted by my Mother's worried and tear stricken face. "Spencer," she said at the sight of me and embraced me as I approached her.

"How's dad?" I asked staring up at her.

"I'm not sure. I haven't heard anything from the doctor since I arrived here," she answered as a tear rolled down her face.

"Every thing's going to be all right mom," I assured her as I wiped away her tear with my thumb. "Let's go sit in the waiting room. We can wait for the doctor there." I said as she nodded at my words and followed my lead to the small gray room at the end of the hall.

"Sit here," I said as I placed her in a seat. "I'll go get us some coffee."

She nodded at my words but remained silent as I walked out of the room and down the hall to the cafeteria. I slowly walked up to the lunch lady and ordered two coffees and a muffin.

"Your total comes to $3.21," the lady said as she handed me my orders. I grabbed the orders and handed her a five. "Keep the change," I said as I walked away and back to the waiting room. I stepped into the room finding my mother still in the same position that I left her in. "Mom," I said as I stood in front of her, offering a cup of coffee. "You should drink this. It might take a while till the doctor gets here," I suggested as she nodded her head and took the cup from my grasp. I sat down after handing her the coffee and sipped my own._ 'I hope he's OK_,' I thought to myself and bit my lip.

Seconds passed like minutes and minutes passed like hours but it wasn't until about 40 minutes after that the doctor showed up at the doorway.

"Mrs. Carlin?" A tall, gray haired man, wearing a green ER suit, questioned.

"Yes," my mother said and stood up. As did I.

"I'm sorry to inform you but... we lost Mr. Carlin," the man said quietly avoiding our eyes. My mother gasped and fell into the chair in shock. Sobbing immediately over coming her.

"We did everything that we could to save him, but it was too late," the man said and shifted his weight uncomfortably. "If you have any questions or need anything, please don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you doctor, but I think we need some time alone," I said as I sat next to my mom and rubbed her back in a soothing method to calm her down. He nodded his head in understanding and quietly left the room.

"Shh...mom, don't cry. Everything will be OK," I said softly as I continued to rub her back. _'If only I could believe my own words,'_ I thought before closing my eyes and letting my own tears fall...

The next day we held a press conference announcing my father's death. The media was shocked at the sudden news of his death. Many asked what would happen to the company, and who would be taking over it. Of course it was obvious that I would be taking over it since I was his only daughter but our lawyer refuted the questions and stopped us from answering.

Immediately after the conference our lawyer held a meeting with us to announce my Father's will.

"Please sit down, Mrs. Carlin. And you too Miss Carlin, please sit" our lawyer said as he placed his briefcase on the table and opened the top.

"I have Mr. Carlin's will here," he said as he took out a small stack of papers and passed us each a bundle. "You each have a xerox copy to look over but I have the original. Please follow along as I read."

I grabbed a copy and glanced at the first page not bothering to look at the others as we would get to them soon.

"Please flip to page 3," our lawyer said and glanced at my mother. "Mrs. Paula Carlin is entitled to 40 of the stock hold for the Carlin Inc. along with 50 of the current savings in Mr. Carlin's bank account. The other 50 belongs to Miss. Spencer Carlin. Next, this can be found on page 7, the estate for the Mr. Carlin's 3 homes, one being located in New York City, New York and the other located in Paris, France belong to Mrs. Paula Carlin. And the last of the three homes, located in Los Angeles, California belongs to Miss. Spencer Carlin."

I followed along with our lawyer as he read and nodded in satisfaction.

"Who's name is the company under? Mine or Spencer's?" my mother questioned and glanced at our lawyer, then at me.

_Good thing she asked, that completely slipped my mind_, I thought to myself and mentally hit myself for forgetting. I quickly grasped the glass of water on my side and took a sip of water. I listened to him as he began to read, noticing his small fidgeting motions.

"Umm...please turn to page 13," our lawyer said and gave a small fidget once again as he turned the page, "the ownership and estate of the Carlin Inc. belongs to...umm..." he said nervously and stopped as he quickly wiped a sweat drop from his forehead.

"Please continue," I said as I continued to drink my water.

"Yes, do continue," my mother said as she was reading over the terms of her newly found estates in Paris and New York

"Umm, yes...as I was saying the ownership and estate of the Carlin Inc. belongs to..umm.." he stopped again this time glancing from the paper to my eyes.

"Why do you keep stopping? Is it hard to read the print or something? Is it blurry?" I questioned as I turned to the page he was reading aloud and briefly scanned the page looking for the specific paragraph. Finding the passage I began to read the paragraph to myself. "the ownership and estate of Carlin Inc," I mumbled to myself. "belongs to-"

I coughed at the name written and reread the paragraph over and over again not believing my eyes.

"Spencer, what's wrong?" my mother asked in concern. I started at her dumbfounded unable to utter a single word. I glanced at the paper once more to check if what I was reading was right. Still not believing what I read, I turned to our lawyer staring him dead in the eyes.

"Who the hell is Ashley Davies?!"

A/N: That's all for now. Now please be a responsible reader and review. Thanks.-Ayaka620


	2. Who is Ashley Davies?

A/N: Hey everyone sorry it took so long to update. I've been busy lately. Anyway, enjoy this chapter. Feedback is always welcomed.

**Nothing is Final**

Chapter 2: Who is Ashley Davies?

"Who the hell is Ashley Davies?!" I yelled.

"Spencer, what are you talking about?" my mother asked clearly confused.

"Read this," I said pointing to the paragraph which proclaimed this so called 'Ashley Davies' the new owner of the Carlin Inc.

She read it quickly having the same reaction as I did and stared at our lawyer expecting answers. "What is the meaning of this?" my mother demanded and gave our lawyer the death stare. "Who is this Ashley Davies? I demand to know at once."

"Mrs. Carlin, I do not know the reasons as to why Mr. Carlin appointed Miss. Davies as his successor. I'm only here to deliver the papers," he said and took a pen from his front pocket as he slid the original copy of the will and the pen across the table. "Now, if you two will, please sign your names and signature on the dotted line."

"I'm not signing anything to until I know what's going on," my mother said, standing her ground.

"Mrs. Carlin, there's nothing I can do about the terms of the will," our lawyer said as he stood up and walked towards the door. "I'll give you a few minutes to read things over. Please sign it. I'll step out so you two can discuss things."

"Spencer wait here, I'm going to have a word with our lawyer to see if I can find out why things are like this," my mom said as she followed our lawyer out the door. I nodded in understanding and watched as she exited the room and shut the door behind her.

I glanced at the will once more and quickly grabbed it. I stared intently at the the forsaken paragraph that had brought so much confusion to me. "Dad, why did you do this?" I whispered sadly. "And I still don't know who the hell Ashley Davies is!" I proclaimed and gave a small sigh of frustration as I heard the door open and close.

"I think that would be me," a sultry voice responded as I snapped my head in the direction of the sudden intrusion. But, I quickly found myself staring at a woman, who stood at about 5'4, had long auburn curls that stopped just below her shoulders, had deep chocolate brown eyes, long lashes, a perfectly straight nose and the most kissable lips I've ever seen, standing in the doorway.

"I'm Ashley Davies," she said and approached me, her hand extended. I glanced at her extended hand then to her eyes not sure whether to shake it or not, but did other wise.

"I'm Spencer Carlin," I replied, taking her hand into my grasp and giving it a firm shake.

"I know you of course, how can I not," Ashley said and winked as she took a seat across from mine. "But, I bet you're wondering who I am," she said as a knowing smile pulled at the corners of her mouth.

"Read my mind," I said feeling slightly uncomfortable under her intense stare. '_Is she staring at my breasts?'_ I thought as I followed her gaze to my chest and quickly crossed my arms over it, blocking her view. Ashley smirked at my actions and glanced up to look at my eyes. "As I said before, I'm Ashley Davies. The new owner of the Carlin Inc. and your new boss," she said and stared at me waiting for my reaction.

"So I've heard," I replied trying to be nonchalant.

"Yes, and trust me you're not mistaken," she said and chuckled.

_'Gosh she's so arrogant,_' I thought and rolled my eyes as a knock sounded upon the door.

"Come in," Ashley said as the door opened and both my mother and our lawyer re-entered the room.

"Ah, Miss. Davies you have arrived. This is great. Now we can finalize the papers," our lawyer said and sat down, as did my mom.

"Wait, we're not signing anything until we know why_ she _has the company under her name," my mother stated and glared at Ashley.

Ashley gave a sweet and innocent smile to my mother and shook her head. "Mrs. Carlin, I assure you this company is **now** in the best of hands. There's no need to go into the details for that reason."

"I believe that we have the right to know those reasons. I've never even heard of you. Arthur had never mentioned you before," my mother stated coldly as Ashley raised an eyebrow at my mother's attitude.

"Well, if you really want to know. I met Mr. Carlin a few months ago. He had been collaborating with the company that I was working for at the time, which was R.M.D Inc. I met him during the pitch for the collaboration of the two companies. I was the one that closed the deal and he was highly impressed with my pitch for the collaboration," Ashley said smugly and glanced at me as I rolled my eyes again.

"Okay, so how does all of this end up with you having_ our _company under your name?" I said, returning her stare.

"Well, after the collaboration he offered me a higher paying job, with the Carlin Inc. but I refused because my loyalty with R.M.D was very strong. That was because my grandfather was one of the three co-founders of the company. Actually, the D, in R.M.D, stands for Davies but we lost our share of stock hold for the company. But, after Mr. Carlin found out about what happened he offered me the job again because surprisingly he knew my father when he was still alive," Ashley said and glanced at my mother.

"Who's your father?" my mother asked.

"Raife Davies. Mr. Carlin said they went to college together, room mates actually," Ashley said and grinned.

'_She has a nice smile_,' I thought but immediately scolded myself for the thought. '_What am I thinking about?! Why am I focusing on her smile?' _I thought to myself once more and shook my head as I tried to clear my head.

"Are you OK?" Ashley asked, noticing my actions.

"Yes, I'm fine," I replied and picked up my glass, taking a sip of water. "Please continue with your explanation."

"So yeah, as I was saying he gave me the job and the rest is history," Ashley said and shrugged her shoulders.

"If you've been working at the company for months now, why haven't I seen you around the office?" I questioned suspiciously.

"I do the work at home, 'cause I'm currently finishing up a master degree. So grad school takes up most of my time. But I usually sent the business proposals to Mr. Carlin through email, or pitched it to him over the phone." Ashley said and gave a half smile.

"Okay, but you still haven't answered why you're the new owner and not me," I said and crossed my arms.

"I think this will explain everything better," Ashley said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out an envelope. She handed me the envelope and spoke; "This is a letter from Mr. Carlin, he wanted me to give it you in case anything like this happened."

I immediately opened the envelope and found a hand written letter. 'It's his hand writing,' I thought to myself as I began to read the letter.

_Dear Spencer,_

_You're probably wondering why the company's not under your name and is instead under Ashley's. I debated for a long time on whether or not I should give you ownership. Believe me when I say, it was a very hard decision for me to make. But, I decided to give the reigns to Ashley. I can't exactly explain why it's like this, but I have my reasons for doing so. Someday you'll understand and I hope that you'll forgive me for doing this. She'll start working right away in my position. Cooperate with Ashley OK? You can learn a lot from her. Don't worry you're in good hands._

_I love you, baby girl._

_Love,_

_Dad _

"So, Spencer," Ashley said as I finished reading the letter, a look of disbelief evident on my face. "Are you ready to trust me?"

A/N: That's all for now. Please be a responsible reader and review. -Ayaka620


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